There is no doubt a sense of personal relief, a sense of a burden lifted, in Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez's decision to step down sooner rather than later. There is also, candidly, an appropriateness, as in the parliamentary system where failed policy prompts its authors to stand down.

Other supervisors who were on the job while Robert Citron did his worst might do well to consider Mr. Vasquez's example; for Supervisor William Steiner, who was both present at the creation of the bankruptcy and a booster of the misguided and rejected Measure R tax-increase proposal, this advice is perhaps doubly pressing. There is, you see, little that's more admirable among those who hold power than a willingness to surrender it when honor dictates _ just as little is less appealing than the sight of a politician clinging to office for the sake of, well, clinging to office.

Fortunately, there are plenty of people who have the stature needed for the post Mr. Vasquez is leaving _ and a commitment to smaller, less expensive government evidenced by energetic opposition to Measure R.

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